Canada

More than one in five residents in Canada was born in another country, making it one of the world's top destinations for international migrants. From its migration policymaking aimed at identifying and recruiting workers needed by the Canadian economy, to its immigrant integration policies, and efforts to recruit skilled migrants and international students, the research collected here focuses on the diverse policies, practices, and trends that Canada is experiencing.

Syrian refugee family in Argentina who were sponsored by a community group

Policy Briefs

Why Matching Matters: Improving Outcomes in Refugee Sponsorship and Complementary Pathways

In community sponsorship and other programs that directly involve communities and individuals in supporting refugees’ arrival and integration, where and with whom refugees are matched matters a great deal. This policy brief explores the ongoing evolution of approaches taken to matching refugees with sponsors or receiving communities, highlighting innovations and opportunities for further improvements.

Graphic image of man's hand touching screen with word skills

Commentaries

Canada's New Tech Talent Strategy Takes Aim at High-Skilled Immigrants in the United States

Canada’s Tech Talent Strategy is highly unusual for its explicit targeting of visa holders in another country. Opening a dedicated stream specifically for high-skilled immigrants in the United States who hold an H-1B visa is the latest salvo in a growing global competition for talent—one in which some countries are racing ahead of the United States in terms of policy dynamism, as this commentary explores.

Recent Activity

Reports July 2021 Future Scenarios for Global Mobility in the Shadow of Pandemic By Meghan Benton	Articles July 9, 2021 Canada’s Private Sponsorship Model Represents a Complementary Pathway for Refugee Resettlement By Ian Van Haren
Articles June 15, 2021 Canadian Immigrants in the United States By Emma Israel and Jeanne Batalova	Reports April 2021 COVID-19 and the State of Global Mobility in 2020 By Meghan Benton, Jeanne Batalova, Samuel Davidoff-Gore and Timo Schmidt
Articles March 24, 2021 Movement after Migration: Immigrants’ Disproportionate Reliance on Public Transportation By Mary Hanna	Reports November 2020 Managing the Pandemic and Its Aftermath: Economies, Jobs, and International Migration in the Age of COVID-19 By Demetrios G. Papademetriou
Policy Briefs June 2020 Measuring Up? Using Monitoring and Evaluation to Make Good on the Promise of Refugee Sponsorship By Hanne Beirens and Aliyyah Ahad	Commentaries May 2020 The Rocky Road to a Mobile World after COVID-19 By Meghan Benton

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Reports June 2016 Improving Education for Migrant-Background Students: A Transatlantic Comparison of School Funding By Julie Sugarman, Simon Morris-Lange and Margie McHugh	Reports June 2016 What’s So Special about Canada? Understanding the Resilience of Immigration and Multiculturalism By Daniel Hiebert
Reports March 2016 The Canadian Expression of Interest System: A Model to Manage Skilled Migration to the European Union? By Maria Vincenza Desiderio and Kate Hooper	Reports March 2015 Building Skills in North and Central America: Barriers and Policy Options toward Harmonizing Qualifications in Nursing By Victoria Rietig and Allison Squires
Reports January 2015 Mentoring Practices in Europe and North America: Strategies for Improving Immigrants' Employment Outcomes By Milica Petrovic	Reports July 2014 Giving Cities and Regions a Voice in Immigration Policy: Can National Policies Meet Local Demand? By Madeleine Sumption
Books May 2014 Migration of Health Workers: The WHO Code of Practice and the Global Economic Crisis	Books December 2013 Managing Borders in an Increasingly Borderless World

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Feature

August 2, 2012

Shaping Citizenship Policies to Strengthen Immigrant Integration

In recent years, many governments have tightened their citizenship requirements as a way to promote better immigrant integration. In examining citizenship policy in the United States, Canada, and countries in the European Union, this article considers the balance policymakers face between requirements that may be too difficult for immigrants to meet and ones that will better help them find success in their new countries of residence.

Profile

September 15, 2011

Canada's Immigration Policy: a Focus on Human Capital

Canada has long been a country of net immigration and has designed its current immigration policy around attracting highly educated and skilled migrants for entry into its labor force. In this country profile, Ashley Challinor discusses the challenges associated with this approach and provides a sense of the actual scale and nature of migration into Canada.

Top Ten

December 1, 2009

Canada Bucks the Trend and Keeps Immigration Targets Steady

Despite the highest unemployment rate in nearly a decade, Canada chose to leave untouched its long-standing points system and the number of immigrants admitted for permanent residence.

Top Ten

December 4, 2008

The Recession-Proof Race for Highly Skilled Migrants

Gloomy economic forecasts do not seem to have slowed the hunt for highly skilled migrants or foreign students — the best near-term solution to fill shortages and enhance competitiveness.

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Video

September 24, 2013

Mexicans in Hawaiʻi: Challenges and Prospects

This briefing at the State Capitol in Honolulu, organized in conjunction with the University of Hawaii at Manoa, marked the formal release of a Migration Policy Institute report that presents key demographic and socioeconomic information about the Mexican-origin population in Hawai’i.

Audio

September 18, 2013

Preparing for the High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development

The Chair of the Global Forum on Migration and Development, along with the Special Advisor to the UN Special Representative for International Migration discuss what is expected from The UN High-Level Dialogue on Migration and Development in October 2013 and what impact it may have on the Global Forum on Migration and Development.

Video, Audio

May 23, 2012

The Role of National Governments in Promoting Immigrant Integration

A discussion with Rosario Farmhouse, Alejandro Mayorkas, Jasenko Selimovic, Peter Sylvester, and Demetrios G. Papademetriou, MPI President.

Video, Audio

June 9, 2010

Discussion on Possible Solutions for Refugees and IDPs

UN Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees T. Alexander Aleinikoff offers remarks on durable solutions for the refugee protection system as part of MPI's Leadership Visions Series.

2009.5.15 MPI Symposium on Citizenship screen shot

Video

May 15, 2009

MPI Symposium on Citizenship

MPI's symposium on citizenship examined immigrant civic and political participation, the notion of local voting rights for noncitizens, the concept and practice of dual citizenship, and the role of citizenship in immigrant integration.

Recent Activity

Reports

July 2021

Future Scenarios for Global Mobility in the Shadow of Pandemic

More than 18 months since the first COVID-19-related travel restrictions were introduced, the pandemic’s effects on global mobility are still unfolding. With vaccination campaigns picking up speed in some places while only beginning in others, and new variants of the virus emerging, the timeline for restarting international migration and travel remains uncertain. This report explores how different policy choices could result in very different mobility realities.

Articles

July 9, 2021

Canada’s Private Sponsorship Model Represents a Complementary Pathway for Refugee Resettlement

Canada is one of the world’s top countries for resettling refugees, relying on individual Canadians and nonprofit groups—not the government—for much of this resettlement. This article examines Canada’s unique system of private sponsorship, which has become a model for other countries as they seek to increase capacity for refugee resettlement at a time of record global need.

Articles

June 15, 2021

Canadian Immigrants in the United States

The United States and Canada share the world's longest land border and similar cultures. But Canadians account for a tiny and shrinking share of all U.S. immigrants. Canadian immigrants tend to have higher educations and be older than other immigrant groups. This Spotlight explores the history and features of the Canadian immigrant population in the United States.

Reports

April 2021

COVID-19 and the State of Global Mobility in 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically curtailed cross-border mobility in 2020, affecting travelers and migrants around the world. This report presents a first-of-its-kind analysis of the many thousands of travel restrictions and border closures imposed by governments to curb the spread of the virus. It examines how these policies evolved, varied across countries and regions, and what these trends may mean for the future of international movement.

Articles

March 24, 2021

Movement after Migration: Immigrants’ Disproportionate Reliance on Public Transportation

Across North America and Europe, immigrants rely on public transit at higher rates than the native born. This article explores why migrants are disproportionately more likely to use public transportation, the role these systems play in immigrant integration, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on commuter trips, budgets, and services.

Reports

November 2020

Managing the Pandemic and Its Aftermath: Economies, Jobs, and International Migration in the Age of COVID-19

Around the world, governments are grappling with how to combat the COVID-19 pandemic while also managing the economic fallout of policies put in place to stop the virus’ spread. Global migration has dropped sharply amid border closures and travel restrictions. This reflection takes stock of policy responses to the pandemic thus far, and of the challenges (and some opportunities) on the horizon for migration systems, labor markets, and integration of newcomers.

Policy Briefs

June 2020

Measuring Up? Using Monitoring and Evaluation to Make Good on the Promise of Refugee Sponsorship

A growing number of countries, particularly in Europe, have piloted or implemented refugee sponsorship programs in recent years. Yet there is limited evidence of how well these programs, which tap community members and civil society to take key roles in refugee resettlement, are working and how they can be improved. This issue brief explores how building monitoring and evaluation activities into sponsorship programs can help answer these and other critical questions.

Commentaries

May 2020

The Rocky Road to a Mobile World after COVID-19

COVID-19 has chilled many forms of human movement, from travel to temporary and permanent migration, refugee resettlement, and returns, among them. While a safe restart of travel is a precondition for a return to economic and societal normalcy, restarting mobility will not be like flicking a switch, particularly amid disagreements over the costs societies can and should absorb in the name of protecting public health, as this commentary explains.

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